“
I was–” I stopped. I didn’t
know why but I felt protective of my secret, I didn’t want to tell
anyone I was in my horse’s mind. I started again and I could hear
the annoyance in my voice. “I don’t know. I was just following you
guys and then
wham
!” That pretty much summed it up. “Just pain and
screeching.”
Ruby and Steed bolted upright as someone came
in. It was Grey. Chevelle was still kneeling over me as he turned
to him. “What is it?”
He hesitated. “A horse is at the door.”
Chevelle glanced at me, I hoped he didn’t see
my smile. I knew it was Steed, he’d followed my direction.
Grey was waiting. “Well, should I let him
in?”
Chevelle turned back to him and nodded once.
He left as quickly as he’d entered.
And then it hit me.
The door
. I glanced
around, confused about where I was. It felt as though I were laying
on cold rock, I could see the sky above. I was careful not to move
my head too swiftly as I tested for dizziness. It seemed
better.
There were gray stone walls
on either side of us. I couldn’t see behind me, but I thought we
were in a room.
A room with no
ceiling?
“Where are we?”
“
Fort Stone,” Steed
answered.
I snickered and Chevelle’s irritated look
surfaced. I didn’t know if it was from my stupidity or Steed’s
interjection. “Fort Stone?” I asked.
“
Named for Lord Stone,”
Steed explained. Yes, Chevelle was definitely irritated with
Steed.
“
A Lord?” I tried not to
sound too impressed as I took another look around, reassessing the
walls with the new information. I wondered how old it
was.
Chevelle stood, directing Ruby to stay with
me until he returned. Steed followed him out.
Ruby must have known I was curious. Or she
just wanted to talk. “It’s been abandoned for centuries.” She made
me a bed as she spoke, telling ancient stories.
As she helped me move onto the blankets, I
asked, “Why are we here?”
She twisted her mouth and then decided on an
answer. “We were in need of shelter after your… episode. It was
close enough to work. Are you cold?” she asked, tucking me under a
blanket.
“
I’ll get it,” I said,
waving my hand to form a fire beside us.
Nothing happened.
The dizziness was almost gone now; I was
feeling close to normal, just a bit fuzzy. I tried once more but it
would not light. I pressed down the panic as I concentrated on
pulling the burn together.
Nothing.
I sat up and held both my
hands in front of me, palms up, as I focused on lighting a
flame,
any flame
.
Still nothing.
I reached out to move a rock from the floor,
it didn’t budge. I concentrated on a pebble beside me, it didn’t
shift in the least.
“
Ruby?” She was already
watching me. “I… it doesn’t work.” I held my hands uselessly in
front of me, helpless.
Panic was taking me when she laid a hand on
my shoulder and leaned forward. I expected her to calm me, explain
it would come back, it would all be okay. Glitter was in the air
before I could stop her.
By the time Chevelle returned, I was full-on
goofy with it. He and Ruby sat facing me. She must have filled him
in on my problem.
I resisted the urge to touch him.
“
Frey,” Chevelle began,
using a slow, even tone.
I cut him off, trying to sound calm. “What
happened?”
“
It would seem the council
has attacked us.” I was too numb to draw in the sharp breath I
expected. My cheeks tingled. “Attacked
you
,” he clarified.
Something came out of my chest that sounded
like a moan. I struggled to focus on what he was telling me.
“Attacked?”
“
They must have tried to
strengthen your bonds.” I knew I should have been shocked but I
couldn’t produce the feeling.
“
Succeeded,” I
complained.
He nodded. “It seems it may have taken your
magic completely this time.”
This time
. I concentrated on keeping my head straight, to look like I
was listening properly. My attempt at concentration must have come
across as anxiety.
“
You found a way to break
them before. You will again.”
I nodded sloppily.
“
Slowly.”
My nose was itchy. I wiggled it.
“
Rest now. We have
time.”
I started to ask him not to
go but he wasn’t leaving. He settled in, both he and Ruby were
staying with me. I was happy… downright blissful.
Stupid dust
.
I watched Chevelle’s face as my eyes
fluttered shut, exhausted. My dreams brought him close, a much too
vivid kiss on the cheek that burned like fire. My skin was
blistering, I could feel the color. It swirled around me and
shocked me awake again. I lay on the floor, eyes wide, body
unmoving. I was weak, tired, still under the influence, but I heard
voices. I didn’t move as I listened to discern if they were
real.
They seemed to be close but muffled, maybe in
the next room or down a corridor, as they echoed off the stones. I
thought I’d picked out Anvil’s deep voice. “Trapped here like
rats... cowards...” He was outraged.
Someone else, Grey maybe, worry coloring his
tone. “We can’t just leave them out there.”
I knew Chevelle’s voice, interlaced between
the other comments. “She’s not ready... we can’t... too soon.”
And a voice I couldn't place. “… another
setback…”
They seemed to be in disagreement but I
couldn’t find the interest to stay with them. I faded back into
sleep. These dreams took me farther. My sight was off, not as
clear, distorted. But as I lingered there, I knew the cause, I was
seeing from a horse. We were outside the stone walls of the
fortress finding sparse greens to eat, which bored me even in a
dream. I encouraged the horse to run and he responded immediately,
taking flight down the mountainside. The rocks streaked past us as
we ran faster and faster, the wind whipped his mane. A great bird
perched on the dead limb of a tree and I jumped to it just as it
dropped from the branch and flipped its wings out to catch the
wind. We flew still further as I watched the mountain pass below
us. There was a small patch of trees ahead and I could see movement
there, inside. I tried to focus on it... familiar silver and
white.
Commotion brought me back. I sat up,
startled, and my head spun. Ruby caught my arm to steady me. Her
smile was strained as she handed me a drink of water.
I looked around, Chevelle was near the
entrance of the stone room with Anvil and Grey. They appeared to be
preparing to leave. “What’s going on?” I asked.
“
Nothing to worry about,”
Ruby assured me. “Just a hunting trip.”
I was still fuzzy but I knew
it wouldn’t take three of them to hunt. And then I remembered the
bits of conversation I’d heard when I woke. “Someone’s missing?” I
took stock, I’d seen everyone but Rhys and Rider now. And the
wolves.
The silver and white
wolves
. “The wolves are out
there.”
Each person in the room turned to me in
synchronization, matching astonishment on their faces as they
silently stared at me.
Ruby finally spoke. “What do you know about
the wolves, Frey?”
“
Are they hurt?”
“
We don’t know. They did not
return.”
“
Rhys and Rider?”
“
They are attempting to
locate them. They will not rejoin us until they do.”
I started to draw a map for
them and then cursed when I realized I was no longer able.
Bound from magic.
Ruby had
been right to drug me; I didn’t think I could have handled it
otherwise. They were watching me, unsure what I was doing as I sat
helpless and cursing. “I need something to draw with.”
Ruby pulled a piece of charcoal and scrap of
paper from her bags. I rushed to draw the path I remembered from my
dream, focusing on the ring of trees with the most detail. “They
are there.”
The men stood, motionless and staring until
Anvil crossed the room to retrieve the sketch. He bowed a little as
he took the paper from my hands and then hurried out, Grey
following. Chevelle stayed.
Ruby turned to him and breathed a deep sigh
but he didn’t respond.
My head throbbed and I groaned as I reached
up to rub my temples. He was beside me in a flash, unspeaking. Ruby
handed me another drink. It helped.
But I was still irritated
about the binding. “Does this mean we’ll have to
train
again?”
Ruby snickered a little.
Chevelle answered slowly, “There has to be a
way. You broke them before.”
I tried to remember how. The first magic I
could recall was the thistle in the back room at Junnie’s. It
seemed so far away now.
Ruby was speaking to him. “Maybe it was just
the length of time…”
What did she know about how long I was
bound?
“
If we can find a way to
test without endangering–” He stopped. “Don’t worry about it,
Frey.” I wondered if I'd looked frightened. “We will figure it
out.”
Great, that’s reassuring,
figure it out
. I meant to smile at him but
only succeeded in a nod.
“
Rest now. There is plenty
of time for tr–” He’d started to say training but thought better of
it. “… to test the bindings.” He smiled at me and, once again, I
thought for just a moment he would reach out to me. But he did not.
He simply stood and walked from the room.
Ruby saw me watching after him. “He’s right,
Freya. Rest now. Plenty of time to get you straightened back out.”
She stood and walked to the front wall. I hadn’t noticed before,
probably because it was so small, but there was a narrow window,
almost a peephole there. Ruby positioned herself in front of it,
watching whatever was outside.
I sighed.
Plenty of time
. I fiddled
with the blankets for a few minutes, tried a couple of times
(futilely) to move tiny specks of loose rock on the floor, and then
gave up and decided to read the journal again. I rolled away from
Ruby and pulled my pack into the curve of my body, settling the
book open but able to be quickly hidden away if needed.
This morning, I extended my
spell, giving Rune an extra day of sleep. It was a good thing, too.
I found the camp right off and followed the tracks easily. They
initially must have ran in panic but then gathered back together
and walked in a line, some two by two, some dragging sleds. They
made temporary shelter in a cave, likely for just one night, and
continued again. They must have moved slowly, and I could see they
stopped often to rest. It didn’t take long before I’d found their
new camp. I slipped into a tall tree to watch them. To my absolute
shock, I found something I had never seen before. I watched for
hours before I was sure, too stunned to believe it possible. I had
heard stories, the fairies were always blowing off, but I never
actually believed it to be true. Was I really watching
humans
?
I stopped reading, confused.
Humans weren’t
real
. What kind of book was this? She had mentioned fairies’
stories. I wondered if this was fiction, a fairy ruse, given to
Chevelle by Ruby. Or maybe the dust was still playing havoc on me.
I glanced over my shoulder at Ruby, still watching anxiously out
the front window. I shook my head as I continued…
But I couldn’t deny it. Their size was about
that of an elf, but all were different. The men were thicker. Not
necessarily with muscle, some more bulbous. The women were varied
as well, some thin and wiry, some stout like the males. Their hair
was in all shades of the fairies’, light blond like the sun, brown
as the trees, one even had rusty red, his plump cheeks peppered
with light brown spots. And there were so many children! They were
loud and ran round the camp all afternoon. And they just as varied
as the adults. I examined their wide noses, rounded ears, and
stubby fingers. Those that wore no shoes had short, thick toes like
trolls! The men had patches of hair curled on their chests and
forearms and some even grew it around their chins like goats. Their
clothes were tattered and ill-fitting rags. They moved about the
camp slowly, clearly no magic and definitely the owners of the
crude tools we had found. They spoke to each other often, their
voices like the protest of an old hound. I watched until nightfall,
when they settled into tents and lean-tos. They seemed to assign a
watchman, wielding only a torch lit from the central fire. I
slipped down from the tree and returned to the castle. I am dying
to see what I can find of them in the books of Father’s study.
Laughter broke my concentration. Anvil and
Grey were back. I looked to the front wall but Ruby was gone, moved
to the entrance of our room. She seemed to be waiting there
excitedly for something. I slid the book into the pack and sat up
to watch.
Chevelle came in and Ruby greeted him. “It’s
fantastic.” He smiled at her.
Steed was following. “Almost unbelievable,”
he added as he shot me a peculiar look.
They turned to me as Rhys and Rider entered,
who didn’t approach but stopped just inside the room and dipped
into a bow. “Our gratitude, Elfreda.”